Keeping Me Warm
by Ardikus
Summary: Jaune finds himself partnered up with his classmate Ruby for an English project about the most important part of the Holidays, and he just so happens to also be her Secret Santa.


**AN: Woo! Merry Christmas! It's still December! It Counts.**

"Alright class, I know that it's almost the holidays and you're all very excited, but we still have a week of classes left before the break starts and we're going to be using it." This announcement earned a chorus of groans from Ms. Goodwitch's Senior English class, followed by a thump as one student's head slammed into their desk in protest from the back of the class.

Their teacher rolled her eyes at Sun Wukong's over dramatic reaction before continuing, "That being said, seeing as we're all in the holiday spirit, our final assignment before winter break will reflect that. You and a partner must put together a short paper reflecting on what the holiday season means to each of you, and comparing the similarities and differences between your experiences to tell me what you think is the most important part of the holidays and why."

With this announced, interest was perked, immediately heads shot around, looking to their friends to decide who each student might partner with. Ms. Goodwitch shook her head at the response and spoke over the whispers, "These partners have, of course, already been selected by me," another series of groans, "So if you'd all quiet down I'll get to announcing them."

Jaune listened to the teacher idly, flicking a pencil between his fingers as he waited to hear his name called. He was hoping to get paired with his friend Pyrrha, both because she was easy to work with and good at getting things done. Those hopes were crushed rather quickly.

"Pyrrha Nikos and Yang Xiao Long." He looked over in time to catch an exaggeratedly seductive wink being sent to Pyrrha by Yang, rolling his eyes.

He kept listening, Nora was with some girl he didn't know well, Dew or something. Weiss was with Ren. Blake was with Neptune, much to Sun's dramatic disappointment. He could help but chuckle along with the rest of the class as the blond boy mimed being stabbed in the back as he looked over at his blue haired best friend.

"Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose." Huh, Jaune thought, well that wasn't so bad. He turned his head to look at Ruby, sitting a few seats behind him. She smiled and waved as their eyes met, and he couldn't help but return the gesture before turning around again.

Ms. Goodwitch went on until she'd listed the entire class, and then with a glance at the clock, told them to use the last few minutes to talk with their partners. Jaune's chair made a squeaking sound as he pushed it back to stand up, and he winced at the sharp noise. Before he had bothered to get further Ruby was already at his desk.

"Hey Jaune!" she greeted with another wave, her whole body tilting dangerously to the side with the motion. Suddenly Jaune felt like he was looking at his little sisters instead of a classmate. Granted, Ruby was two years younger than anyone else in the class, so he did, in fact, have a little sister her age. Really, Ruby did act a lot younger than she was most times, and Jaune had to wonder how someone like Yang managed to keep her sister so innocent while living in a house with, well, Yang.

That was probably a little unfair to Ruby though, seeing as while she acted a bit childish sometimes, she did skip two grades, and was probably one of the smartest kids in the room. You didn't get bumped up two whole years for being excellent in a single subject, after all. That'd be ridiculous.

"Hey there Ruby." He said in return, "How've you been today?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, eyes brightening, "It's been pretty awesome, in Phys. Ed we got to play capture the flag outside in the woods and I shoved Weiss's face into a snowbank." Jaune barked out a surprised laugh at the blatant admission.

"Is that why she looked so angry at everything earlier?" he asked wryly. Ruby shrugged innocently in response, which only proved to make her seem guiltier, "She wasn't maaad, per say." Ruby drawled, "We're super besties, so she was fine with it."

"Right." Jaune looked around the room at all the other pairs, eyes slowing as they passed Pyrrha and Yang for a moment before coming back to Ruby, "So," he said, smiling awkwardly, "Got any idea how we're gonna do this project?"

His partner tapped her finger to her chin in thought for a moment, "I mean, we could meet up tomorrow and work on it? It's probably better to do as much as possible over the weekend, it'll be harder to spend a lot of time on it together during the week." He nodded, "We could do it at my house," He offered, "My parents wont mind, and we have a bunch of empty rooms with tables we could work at."

Ruby seemed fine with the suggestion, "Sounds good!" she chirped, "We don't live far apart so I can just walk there too, as long as its not like, a blizzard or something." They both looked up as the bell rang, signalling the end of class.

"See you tomorrow then? I can come by in the morning." She said, turning her head back towards him.

Jaune laughed nervously, "Well, not too early, or I'll probably still be sleeping. Maybe ten or eleven?"

Ruby laughed with him before nodding with a small smile, "Sure thing, Jaune."

He started to gather his things along with the rest of the class when their Teacher's voice rang out, "Remember students! If you haven't already found a gift for your homeroom's Secret Santa exchange, you only have until Friday to get one!"

Jaune's face dropped at the reminder. He'd completely forgotten about that whole thing, and now that he was reminded, he remembered exactly who he was supposed to be getting a gift for. His eyes turned to follow the retreating form of his new partner, who he had absolutely no idea what to get as a gift.

"Uh oh."

* * *

Jaune's head picked up when he heard his name called. He poked his head out of the kitchen to try and hear better.

"Jaune!" he could make out that it was one of his older sisters, Addie, calling to him. Faintly, he could hear her twin, Danny, giggling, "Your girlfriend is here!" His eyes widened in surprise, and then fear.

He'd almost forgotten that Ruby was coming over to work on the project, and he had failed to warn her about his hoard of sisters. "Oh gods!" he whispered, scrambling out of the kitchen and making a beeline for the front door. When he came skidding around the corner to the entryway, his twin sisters both turned to reveal their mischievous expressions.

"Why Jaune," Danny casually remarked, "You didn't tell us you had a girlfriend coming over."

He went to respond but was quickly cut off by Addie, "And she's so adorable too! I am so insulted you didn't let us know. Look at her! She's just so cute!" He could see, as Addie stepped aside to gesture widely with her arms, that Ruby was indeed in the doorway, her face even more red than her jacket.

Her hat was designed to look like a wolf's face, which probably only added ammunition to his older sisters' infinite repertoire of things to tease him about, because it really did make Ruby look adorable like Addie had said.

Thankfully, Jaune had spent seventeen years dealing with these two, so he was immune to most of their teasing. The same could not be said about Ruby, who was more used to Yang's brand of teasing, which only struck on rare occasions.

"We're partners for a project in English class." He responded flatly, crossing his arms as he stared down the two girls. Their eyes met one another for a moment before they both turned on Jaune simultaneously, "What kinda project?" Danny asked, before Addie cut in dramatically, "Oooh! Maybe they're reading each other Love poetry! Do you think?" she pretended to swoon, making Jaune roll his eyes, but he noticed Ruby look to the ground in embarrassment. "Cut it out" he said, a little sharper, walking to the door. He reached Ruby and cautiously put a hand on the back of her shoulder to guide her inside. She jumped at the contact, eyes shooting up before she let out a sigh when she realized it was just him. He pointed out where she could leave her coat and boots, glaring over his shoulder at his sisters to dare them to say anything. He was grateful that they remained silent for once.

"Sorry about them, I didn't think about the fact that they'd be home when I invited you over." He said apologetically.

Ruby gave a mumbled "s'fine" as she hung up her coat, making Jaune frown.

"C'mon." he said, "My dad said we could use his office to work." He nodded to the stairs, letting Ruby go up ahead of him, if only so she could get away from his sisters sooner. She took the offer gladly, shuffling up the stairs.

Before he could start up the steps himself, Addie grabbed him and whispered into his ear, not quite quiet enough, "Seriously though, Jaune, she is cute. You should go for it. I bet she likes you."

Jaune did blush at that one, but refrained from answering as he pulled away and made his way upstairs.

When he reached the top, he cautiously looked at Ruby, wondering if she'd heard what Addie had said to him, but her cheeks were still tinted pink from the earlier teasing, or maybe from the cold, so it was hard to tell.

For her part, Ruby managed to meet his eyes for a few seconds before her gaze darted off to the side again, "So, where are we working?" she asked quietly. He took the lead in going down the hallway, reaching the door to his father's office. He paused as he pushed the door open, pointing at one of the doorways a little further down the hall as Ruby came up behind him.

"Bathroom is right there," he informed her, before throwing the door open the rest of the way and stepping in. He gestured grandly at his father's large office space, filled to the brim with bookshelves, tables and chairs, almost like a miniature library within the house. The desk his dad usually used was in one of the corners, with a view out of the large windows along the outer wall, it was covered in papers and had a laptop sitting closed on it, but Jaune could tell it was a lot cleaner than normal, which was probably more thanks to his mom than his dad.

"And this is where we'll be working."

"Whoa." Ruby breathed, looking around the room in surprise.

Jaune grinned at the reaction, glad to see an expression other than embarrassed mortification on his partners face. "I told you we had a ton of empty rooms, I wasn't lying."

"Well duh," she shot back, "Your house is like, ginormous!"

He chuckled at her flailing hands, "It isn't that big."

Ruby shot him an incredulous stare, "It's got like, thirteen bedrooms! This is practically a mansion, and I would know, I've been to Weiss's before." She claimed, "this is a lot more homey than her mansion though. It almost reminds me of our house."

"Well in that case," Jaune said, smiling, "Make yourself at home, and don't mind all the annoying blondes in the house, they won't bother us."

Ruby's cheeks darkened again, but she quickly shot back, "One of those annoying blonds is my partner you know, you should be nicer to him."

A fake gasp tore itself from Jaune's throat, "I'll have you know I am the least annoying person in this entire household, thank you very much Miss Rose!"

She giggled, covering her mouth with one hand. Jaune grinned at his successful joke, striding over and dropping into one of the chairs lazily, "Now, shall I annoy you with this tedious school work, madam?" he teased, waving a hand over the table in an imitation of how he'd seen Weiss do a thousand times. Ruby had to fight back a snort before sitting across from him with a clumsy flourish, "Why I believe it will not be tedious at all, sir, but rather enjoyable instead."

Jaune grinned, leaning back in his chair, "Pfft, nerd, thinking school is fun."

With that, Ruby launched into a tirade about how anything related to Christmas couldn't be anything but fun, and her timid behaviour with his sisters was easily forgotten.

Once they switched their focus onto the project, the two started to trade stories about their past Christmases, Jaune's filled with stories about all the trouble he and his sisters would get into, and how crazy crowded the big family dinner would get with all of their cousins and extended family. Apparently, having a ton of siblings wasn't exclusive to Jaune and his sisters when it came to the Arc clan.

Meanwhile, Ruby's stories focussed more on spending time with her dad and Yang, with her eventually sharing a few of her early memories from when her mother was still alive. Jaune had known before, briefly, the story of Yang and Ruby's mothers, but this had been the first time he'd heard any real details, before it had just been knowing that Ruby's mother had passed away and Yang's wasn't around.

It would have been hard not to know something, seeing as he'd gone to school with Yang and by extension Ruby since he and Yang were five. He may not have ever been great friends with Yang, but it wasn't hard to see how she'd changed in the time after Ruby's mother had died, he could still remember more than a few times where she'd just shut down at school, not responding to anyone. She never cried, Yang had always been too tough for that, obviously.

Jaune didn't know how Ruby had handled it, she'd been younger, and he never saw her then since she hadn't started school yet. He imagined she was much tougher than she looked.

They were in the middle of Jaune telling about the time his sisters had ganged up on him and tried to build him into a snowman one Christmas morning when there was a knock on the door, before it opened and a head popped in, revealing Jaune's mom.

Her eyes took in the sight of Ruby for a moment before she smiled warmly and turned her head to Jaune.

"Sorry to bother you guys, but I wanted to check and see if you might be hungry? I made some cookies."

Ruby perked up at the mention of cookies, and she squirmed in her seat, turning pleading eyes on Jaune since she was probably too shy to say yes herself. He blamed his sisters for that, because he'd seen Ruby practically run over people in the cafeteria to get the last cookie at lunch.

He rolled his eyes at her with a smirk before nodding to his mom, "I think Ruby'd love some cookies." His mother shot him a sly look and a grin before ducking her head out, leaving the door open, "I'll go bring some up for you two then!" she called as she headed back for the stairs.

"You were allowed to answer, you know."

Ruby pouted at him, "Jauuuune, I didn't wanna seem rude!" he laughed, turning her pout into a glare.

"She was offering, why would it be rude to accept?"

Now she looked off to the side, cheeks colouring faintly, "I didn't want to get teased again."

"Ruby," he said, sighing, "My mom isn't like my sisters, she isn't going to tease us just because we're working on a project together."

"Well your sisters had to get it from somewhere." She grumbled, still not looking at him.

"Okay, let me rephrase." He continued, reaching over and patting the top of her hand with his own, "My mom isn't going to tease us because you're a guest, she's going to wait and tease me to death the moment you leave. Is that better?" he raised an eyebrow, watching as Ruby's head turned so she could look down at the hand he'd placed over hers, blush a bright red, and then look up at him after.

Unfortunately for him, that was the moment his mother came back into the room with her cookies.

"Oh." He heard, in his mother's trademark 'I'm going to love this' surprised voice. Now it was Jaune's turn to go red, as he pulled his hand back abruptly. A brief glance let him know he at least wasn't alone, as Ruby was in the same boat. She had a tiny smile on her face though, but it disappeared when she noticed him looking.

He shifted to look over at his mom, who sent him a very pointed look, before walking in and setting a large plate of cookies on the table between them, right where their hands had been. Judging by the way Ruby's eyes zeroed in on the action, either that hadn't escaped her notice either, or she had developed sudden tunnel vision because a plate of cookies was in front of her.

He saw one of her hands twitch towards the plate and rolled his eyes. That answered that question.

"So how's the project going?" his mom asked, watching with amusement as the now oblivious Ruby's hand inched its way to the plate and grabbed a cookie. She took a bite and closed her eyes in bliss, and his mom took the opportunity to waggle her eyebrows at him with a head nod towards his partner. When Ruby's eyes opened again, she gave him a confused look, probably over the fact he was bright red and gaping at his mom.

"What'd I miss?" she asked innocently, fears about his mom teasing her apparently gone now that she'd been given her favourite food.

Jaune's mom grinned deviously at him before putting on a friendlier smile and patting Ruby on the shoulder, "Nothing to worry about dear. Have you two gotten a lot of work done?"

Taking another bite, Ruby nodded energetically, "Yup, we've been taking notes of recurring themes in the stories we've been sharing, so now we'll just have to put them all together."

"I think we already know what the most important thing is going to be for our paper though." Jaune interjected, glad that his face had calmed down some.

"What's that then?" his mother asked, glancing over their notes idly. Ruby finished her first cookie, even as Jaune finally reached over for one himself. She paused before answering long enough to give him a scandalized look over the fact he was taking one of 'her' cookies, "All of our stories had something to do with our families, and how much time we spend with them during Christmas, so that's what we'll go with."

His mother smiled, looking over the two of them, "Well, it's good to see you two have your priorities straight, family is what it's all about, after all." She came around the table and pulled Jaune into a headlock so she could kiss the top of his head, making him blush again as he tried to swat her away, "Mooom come on!" he whined, shooting a judgemental stare Ruby's direction when he heard her laughing at his expense. The traitor.

"I'll leave you two to it." She continued after letting Jaune go free, "If you need anything else, just give me a call." She turned to leave, only pausing when she reached the doorframe to turn back, "Oh, and Jaune? Behave, huh dear?" he watched in mortification as his mom winked at him and sauntered out of the room, leaving only Ruby's high-pitched giggles to fill the silence.

Jaune buried his face in his arms on the table, groaning. This only incited more laughter from Ruby.

"Your mom is super cool, Jaune." She teased, surely grinning down at him. He didn't care to look at the moment.

"Told ya she wouldn't bother you." He grumbled. He felt Ruby pat him on the elbow sympathetically, though he doubted she would have wanted him to be wrong about his mother. Better that Jaune was the one being embarrassed, obviously.

"C'mon, it wasn't that bad. It was kinda cute." His partner offered. He peeked one eye out from under his arms, "You do realize what exactly she was teasing me about, even if she was too nice to tease you outright, right?" he asked, one eyebrow going up in question.

Ruby's face pinkened at the reminder, but she didn't look away from him, instead smiling a little and shrugging it off, "Yea, but it wasn't like your sisters. I mean, Yang has teased me like that a billion times. Teasing is only really bad if they're right about it, anyways." Her cheeks darkened further as she said it, and she turned her attention back down to their papers, "Sooooo do you wanna keep working?" she spouted quickly.

He brushed off the odd behaviour as just being Ruby, and nodded his head slowly in reply. The two went back to work, putting together their stories and planning out what they'd write for their parts of the assignment, agreeing to write out the joint sections and the conclusion together sometime during the week. They had more than a few classes together, including their homeroom, so meeting up to decide when wouldn't be too hard.

Ruby left not long after that, and as forecasted, Jaune was quickly bombarded with jokes, teasing and sly remarks from his sisters. His mother sat back and watched, probably satisfied with the reaction she'd gotten out of him while Ruby was still here. He wondered on how he'd taken the teasing today. He was used to his sisters teasing, and that usually extended to his mom, but it'd gotten to him today.

What was it Ruby had said about teasing? He'd just brushed it off as her rambling at the time, seeing as how she'd changed the subject, and he couldn't remember for the life of him what it was now.

The rest of the weekend passed without much incident. He spent Sunday working on his part of the assignment, keeping to his room as much as possible to avoid his crazy family. His dad had managed to corner him at one point, asking with wide eyes what the heck Jaune had done to work his sisters into such a frenzy. When he'd told him that he had a partner for a project come over and they'd teased her and not stopped teasing him since. His dad's face had turned to some odd expression of understanding when he'd mentioned Ruby, and at the end he'd just nodded, mumbling something about weathering the storm and retreating to his office.

He hadn't seen his father since.

By Monday, he was actually glad to go to school, if only to escape his house for a few hours. Oh, a few of his sisters went to the same school as he did, of course, but not all of them, and he'd have a much easier time avoiding them at school, where he had plenty of meat shields to throw at them as he ran away.

By that he of course meant his friends. They were, sadly, used to it by now.

He reached his locker and stuffed his bag in, nabbing his books for his first period class and closing it. He turned from there and headed down the hall to Pyrrha's locker, where he and his friends usually met before homeroom. He spotted his friend's long mane of red hair over top of a bunch of other students in the hall, courtesy of Pyrrha's height, coupled with the fact she usually wore heeled boots or shoes on top of it, bringing her to stand almost as tall as Jaune did, even though in truth she was only a slight bit taller than her project partner Yang was.

He reached her easily, following the flow of students in the halls before making a quick sidestep to reach her locker at the side of the hall. Ren and Nora hadn't shown up yet, which wasn't unusual, there were a lot of days they arrived with minutes to spare thanks to Nora's tendency to oversleep.

He leaned up against the lockers before speaking up, "Hey Pyrrha." He greeted calmly.

In response, his normally calm and collected friend jumped and let out a startled scream, slamming her locker door shut as her head whipped around to spot him. Wide green eyes met his before she let out a loud sigh and leaned her head against the locker. "Jaune, you scared me to death." He chuckled before raising his eyebrows, "You alright? Normally you're not quite that easy to spook."

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little distracted."

Jaune looked over his friend with a little more concern, "Problems at home?" Pyrrha looked up to him, confused, before realizing what he was asking and waving it off, straightening herself and facing him. "No, no, nothing like that. Nothing bad." She gave him a genuine smile to reassure him, "It's nice of you to ask though." Jaune shrugged bashfully, "What are friends for, Pyr?" he asked, making her smile again.

Now that she'd recovered from her little scare, Pyrrha reached and opened up her locker again, having slammed it close before. She grabbed her books quickly and then closed it up, not letting herself get caught up in her thoughts again.

"So," Jaune conversed, looking down the hall to see if he'd spot Ren or Nora, "How's your project going with Yang?" He brought his attention back to Pyrrha as she coughed loudly, almost making a choking noise. Her face was beet red.

"Um?" he said uncertainly, staring at his friend with new concern. She seemed to recover, though the smile on her face was awkward.

"Oh, it's been, um, interesting." She stammered, sounding very unlike the confident Pyrrha Nikos he was used to, "Yang is a really fast worker, I – " she blanched at her own words, face matching her bright hair, but Jaune tried to look at the bright side presented.

"Well that's good," he tried, "I know how much you hate working with people who don't try, so it's probably a great feeling to get with someone as eager to go as you are, huh?"

His attempt at consoling his friend over whatever was bothering her was met with astounding defeat. In fact his comments only seemed to worsen her stammering and blushing.

He wondered if maybe Yang had spent a lot of time teasing Pyrrha while doing their work, and she was remembering that. He could sympathise with that, given the treatment his mother and siblings had given him over the weekend.

In the meantime, his friend had managed to reign herself in some, cheeks still glowing pink.

"It, um," Pyrrha ran a hand through her hair, pushing her bangs back haphazardly. The action was so very un-Pyrrha like that Jaune couldn't help but stare.

"Let's just say it was interesting, and we got a great many," she paused, blowing out another loud sigh, "things, done."

Jaune, of course, missed the meaning of the conversation he'd just have completely, leaving Pyrrha unsure if she should be relieved or annoyed with her best friend.

Meanwhile, Jaune had turned and spotted Ruby coming down the hallway towards them. As if feeling his stare, she looked up from the floor, eyes spotting him and then sliding over the the still blushing Pyrrha beside him. What could have been a smile dropped from her face quickly, before she seemed to force it back up, giving him as cheery a wave as she could manage before quickly walking past the two.

Jaune watched her go in confusion, wondering what caused the sudden shift in her mood. He chalked it up, as he usually did, to girls being weird, and brought his attention back to Pyrrha, who seemed oblivious to the exchange.

"So.. what about your project?" Pyrrha asked him, shifting the conversation away from her own situation.

Jaune perked up some, "Well, we had to deal with my sisters and my mom being their usual selves, which was awkward as heck." Pyrrha went pink again, though mercifully this time she was only recalling the first time she'd went over to Jaune's house. She was very, painfully familiar with what he was insinuating.

"Buuut," he continued, "We figured out pretty much everything for the project, and I got most of my part done yesterday too. We told each other a bunch of Christmas stories of stuff we did as kids, you wouldn't believe some of the messes Ruby caused as a kid." He chuckled as he recalled some of the wilder stories. He really pitied Ruby's father for having to deal with a six-year-old Ruby, let alone the fact he had to deal with Yang at the same time.

"I was gonna ask her how much of her part she had done, but when I saw her just now she looked over here and then just walked off in a hurry." He said, unaware of the way Pyrrha's attention zeroed in at that. "I figure I can just talk to her later, we have English today anyways. I'd rather not bother her if there's something wrong."

Pyrrha was looking at him strangely, her flustered condition from earlier absent. "You know, Jaune." She said at last, "I'm sure nothing is wrong, but just in case, you should be extra nice to her. Maybe she just needs a hug?" Jaune frowned, "Well wouldn't she just go to Yang or her dad for that? I don't want to make her feel awkward." Pyrrha just smiled knowingly, patting his shoulder. Her eyes had a familiar mischievous glint to them that he'd be glad to see if it was directed anywhere but at himself.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll be fine, you'll figure it out eventually though. You aren't that dense." She joked, putting emphasis on the word 'that' for effect.

Above them, the bell rang out to announce that homeroom would be starting soon, Ren and Nora hadn't shown, so they had probably just gotten to the school and he would see Nora in homeroom, while Pyrrha would see Ren in hers. He pushed off the lockers and waved at Pyrrha as he made off, "See you during break?" he asked, smiling. Pyrrha nodded in response with a smile of her own, and Jaune decided to try and offer some encouragement regarding her partner situation, assuming his guess about Yang's habits was right, "Don't worry about Yang, huh? I'm sure she'll stop teasing you sooner or later!" he turned before he could see her reaction, and there was indeed a reaction as Pyrrha blushed once again, opening her mouth to reply before thinking better of it. A lazy smile rose across her face after a moment as she stood there, before she spoke to herself, "You have no idea, Jaune."

The rest of the day went rather quietly, Jaune took his own advice and kept his distance from Ruby during homeroom, only glancing over her way a few times, he caught her looking back once, but she quickly turned her attention away. He spent his other classes with his friends, making no further mention of the project to Pyrrha when he saw her, instead focussing on their plans for winter break. He knew that her parents would plan some sort of Vacation travel back to Mistral, but Pyrrha generally wanted to spend time in Vale where her friends were, so Jaune had left a standing offer this year for her to use one of the spare rooms at his house. She hadn't said anything yet, but he had a feeling that she might take him up on it, if she could get her parents to allow it.

Ren and Nora would spend it in Vale as always, he knew, and though he hadn't had a chance to ask it was safe to assume the same of Ruby, and Yang as well.

When the end of the day came around, Jaune found himself leaving the school alongside Pyrrha. He knew that normally Ruby and Yang walked home together, so if he wanted to catch Ruby before she left, he'd have to be quick. Neither sister was usually one to stick around school for long once they were allowed to leave, but he had some time since Yang would get caught up saying bye to her many friends.

Sure enough, as they pushed through the students clustered around the main entrance and made their way outside, Jaune spotted Ruby leaning against one of the pillars in front of the school with her headphones on. He headed towards her, noticing Pyrrha staying back to give them space, since she knew what was going on, maybe more than he did.

Oh please, she definitely had a better idea of what the heck was going on than he did, she was a girl.

As he approached, Ruby happened to look up from her scroll and see him, her eyes widened, and she quickly shoved her scroll into one pocket, but there wasn't exactly anywhere to run that she could make a convenient excuse for the abrupt exit.

Jaune scratched the back of his head as he stopped in front of her, watching as she pulled her headphones off and shook her head to get the hair out of her face when it was displaced by them.

"Uh hey, Jaune." She said unsurely, making Jaune wonder if something actually was wrong. However, he decided to stick with Pyrrha's suggestions, since she usually knew better than him when it came to, well, everything almost.

"Hey Ruby," he said, smiling awkwardly, "How was your day?"

She stared at him for a moment with an odd look on her face before she replied, "It was alright, didn't really do much, a lot of teachers are taking it easy because it's the last week." She said, "I think Goodwitch is the only one giving anyone work."

Taking that as an in, Jaune asked her how her part of Goodwitch's project was going.

"Oh!" she perked up somewhat, "I'm pretty much done with it, just gotta go through it to make sure it all sounds good and I didn't make a bunch of typos. I always type too fast and mess up little things so if I don't read over it again it looks awful!"

Jaune smiled at the news, "So, you're alright then? Everything's good?" She gave him that odd stare again, and he wondered if she knew he wasn't really asking about the project. He'd figured she was on top of the school work, it was just a reason to see if she was alright at the moment, even if it was kind of important to their grades.

"Yea, yea, I'm fine, I'm good." She said, more to herself than to him. She cast a glance around the courtyard, probably looking for her sister.

Her search was interrupted as her view was suddenly filled with the black of Jaune's sweater, as he stepped forward nervously and wrapped the smaller girl in a hug. Her face went bright red at the action, and her whole body froze, not knowing how to react.

"Jaune?" she questioned weakly.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "You seemed like something was wrong this morning when I saw you, and I wasn't sure what to do, so I asked Pyrrha, and she said everything was probably fine, but that maybe you just needed a hug, and I didn't know why that mattered to me cause you could just hug your sister or something but then Pyrrha said some cryptic stuff as if I was supposed to know why she was telling me and I figured why not cause you just seem so down and – " his rambling was cut short as Ruby regained her wits and pushed off of his chest, looking up at him with a red face.

"Wait, Pyrrha told you to do this?" she exclaimed.

Jaune's face contorted in confusion at the question, "Well yea, she's my best friend, who else would I ask for help?"

He watched as Ruby peeked over his shoulder, making eye contact with someone for a few long moments before she flushed and smiled. He glanced back as Ruby fell back off her tip toes to see who she was looking at, finding Pyrrha looking back at him, she sent him a thumbs up his way before turning back to her conversation with Yang, who eyed him and Ruby curiously.

"So are – " the words died in his throat as Ruby reached forward and grabbed at his sides, pulling herself in against his chest before her arms slid further around his back to squeeze him tightly.

Surprised at the tables being turned, Jaune put his arms back around her slowly.

"Thanks for making sure I was okay." He heard her mumble into his chest.

He thought back to how Pyrrha had said a similar sentiment to him earlier, but he refrained from using the response about friends he'd given her, for some reason he had a gut feeling that wasn't right.

"No problem," he settled on instead, one hand rubbing her back absently as they stood there.

After about a minute, Ruby finally pulled her head back from his chest, looking off to the side with a flushed face.

"So, I was gonna ask," he went on hesitantly, "Are you free Wednesday after school to finish the project?" Ruby looked up in surprise, like she'd forgotten about the project entirely, "Uh sure." She said, "Can we do it at my house this time though?" she asked quickly, before looking down again. Jaune laughed at her pleading tone. His sisters sure were terrible.

He gave her arm a gentle squeeze as he unwound his arms from behind her, "To be honest, I was probably going to ask that myself if you didn't." he remarked dryly, "My dad's the only one in the house who hasn't been giving me headaches since Saturday, and that's cause he's been hiding in his office."

Ruby snorted, and he watched as a bright smile came over her face before shifting into that knowing, teasing expression she'd probably learned from her sister, "Like father, like son?" she asked.

"Please, I was hiding from my family before he was, he's the imitator here." She snorted again, covering her nose with her sleeve to try and muffle it.

She looked around again, looking like she was scanning the area for something. When she turned back to him with a determined expression, he figured she found whatever she was looking for, but his brain stopped short of trying to guess what she'd been searching out when she reached up and pulled her face up to his by his coat collar, her whole body brushing up against his as she planted a long kiss on his cheek, her nose digging into the side of his face as her fingers brushed against his jawline on the opposite side.

This lasted for a few seconds before she pulled away. Her forehead bumped against his chest as she mumbled out a goodbye, staring at their feet.

She let go of his jacket and brushed past him, leaving him to catch only a glimpse of her bright red cheeks as she went by. He noticed the smile when she peeked back at him, her silver eyes meeting his for a second before she looked away. He didn't doubt that he looked the same, he could feel a dumbfounded grin crossing his face already. He watched as Ruby grabbed her older sister and practically started to drag her away, before Yang got free with a laugh, waving Ruby off and saying she'd catch up.

His partner stomped her foot in frustration, which was more adorable than anything coming from Ruby, before turning on her heel and marching back past him to the road. He did nothing to stop her, still somewhat stunned by her actions and happy to let things stay as they were for the moment.

As he watched, Yang said her goodbye to Pyrrha, speaking quietly. She said something that made his best friend turn pink, before waving at her and winking and then walking his way. He wondered if he should be worried, but when Yang reached him she took one look at his face before laughing and patting him on the shoulder, "Way to go, Lady Killer." She praised in place of a farewell, skipping past him to catch up with Ruby down the road.

Jaune didn't even respond at first when Pyrrha walked over to stand beside him. She poked him in the cheek playfully, making him blush even as he looked over at her, she grinned back at him.

"That went well." She commented slyly.

"Was that what I think it was?" he asked, finally shaking out of his stupor.

Pyrrha merely raised an eyebrow, "What do you think it was?" he pouted in frustration, "you're not going to give me a straight answer, are you?" he groused, making Pyrrha laugh.

"I'm sure you've got it figured out by now, Lady Killer." She teased, making him frown.

He looked at his best friend suspiciously, "What did Yang say to you before she left?" he watched with satisfaction as she had to fight down a blush, her eyes narrowing at him before she huffed, "Nothing you need to know, and you, buster, should mind your business and focus on Ruby. I'm more than fine."

"If you say so." He returned with a small smile, still not entirely sure what her deal was, but at least assured that it wasn't something bad, as he had worried that morning.

Things went along rather ordinarily after that. Jaune and Pyrrha went their separate ways to walk home, and Jaune did his best to continue avoiding contact with the females in his house. At least now he was starting to feel like he knew why they were making such a big deal of things, but that made him question if he was really so dense that they'd noticed immediately where he was still trying to figure things out himself, days later.

Tuesday passed similarly, as Jaune didn't have any classes with Ruby on that day, so he only saw her in the morning briefly during homeroom. The short exchange they'd had then reminded him that he still had to get a gift for her for the Secret Santa thing, but he had a decent idea for that based on something he remembered from one of the stories Ruby had told him on the weekend, and he was hoping she'd like it.

They had a few classes together Wednesday, and in those classes Jaune felt like he could barely concentrate on whatever the teacher was saying because of all the secretive and shy glances Ruby would send his way. He was thankful none of them were talking about anything too important before the break, because he figured he'd missed almost every word spoken in those classes, unable to take his eyes off of Ruby for more than a few minutes at a time.

By the time the day had ended, Jaune felt as if the anticipation was going to kill him, waiting to spend time working on their project together. He found out from Pyrrha, who could finally talk about her project without stammering, that she and Yang had finished theirs yesterday during lunch, and were planning on going to see a movie together, so Yang wouldn't be around to distract him and Ruby from their work. He'd quirked an eyebrow at Pyrrha when she mentioned the movie, trying to seem casual about it, and that managed to get her to blush, before she slapped him lightly and rolled her eyes, moving on in the conversation with a smile on her face.

So, he made his way outside of the school, shivering as a gust of cold wind hit him in the face as he stepped out of the main doors. He shook it off and made his way down the steps, looking around for Ruby. Not many people were outside, preferring to wait for their rides home or talk to their friends inside today due to the chilly weather, but he couldn't spot her amongst the few scattered people out front.

That was, until she crashed into his chest, nearly knocking him down as she burrowed her face into his jacket.

"Uh, hey?" he tried, slowly letting his hands drop, raised as they had gone when Ruby had impacted. They came down lightly around her shoulders, and he could feel her shivering. He smiled, realizing what she was doing.

"Want to let go?" he asked, wanting to hear what she'd say. Ruby gripped tighter, shaking her head against him. "Nuh uh," she mumbled, "You're warm."

"Well, it'll be nice and warm at your house, I'd bet?" he offered, getting another shake of the head from Ruby. That went about as well as he'd expected. He supposed he couldn't really complain, his chest was pretty warm, but he wasn't sure if that was only because of Ruby's body heat radiating against it.

Still, it would be a lot warmer indoors, and he was pretty sure Ruby's house had a fireplace too…

"Guess I'll have to do all the work for you then, huh lazy butt?" he teased, and before Ruby could wonder what he meant he managed to reach down and scoop one arm under her knees, swinging her up off her feet and into his arms.

She yelped in surprise, digging her hands into the front of his jacket reflexively. He laughed and started walking down the road, even as Ruby realized what he'd done and started whacking him.

"That. Is. Not. Funny!" she shouted, whacking him with each word. He laughed through it, since she wasn't hitting him very hard.

Once she stopped hitting him, she turned to pouting, "Put me down!"

He was more than happy to comply. Ruby was really light, but he didn't want to try and carry her all the way to her house for multiple reasons.

So, he set her back on her feet, and she stomped up ahead of him, arms crossed as she pouted and glared back at him with rosy red cheeks. He chuckled, finding her expression cute, and shrugged innocently in response to her glares, sticking his hands in his pockets to keep them warm.

They walked like this for a couple minutes, about half the distance to Ruby's house, before she started to shiver again, and look back at him a little less angrily.

He grinned, and the next time she looked back, he spread one arm out in an offer of warmth. She hesitated for a few seconds, contemplating, before her willpower crumbled and she shuffled back towards him, grumbling under her breath and keeping her arms crossed, even as she leaned against his side greedily to keep warm.

He grinned stupidly as he wrapped his arm tightly around her, running his hand up and down her arm every so often to keep her arm and his hand both somewhat warm.

The rest of the walk went by in comfortable silence, with Ruby happy to siphon heat off of him to stave off freezing to death and him happy to keep her warm, especially if it meant holding her close, he admitted to himself.

When Ruby's house came into sight, she let out a whoop of joy and took off running to the door. Jaune laughed at her antics before chasing after her, reaching the door just as she threw it open and slipped inside. He went in behind her, stepping to the side to let her close the door, cutting off the cold air.

"Gods it's cold out there." He muttered, shaking his head before pulling his beanie off. He watched with a grin as Ruby eagerly shimmied out of her boots, tossing her coat carelessly at the hooks on the wall and sprinting away, ducking through an open archway into the living room and nearly slipping on the wood floor in her socks in the process. There were a few seconds of silence before he heard her shout out "Fire!" in a gleeful tone.

He took his own coat off, kicking off his shoes, and hung it on one of the hooks, picking Ruby's off the floor and hanging it beside his.

The sight of the crackling fireplace when he turned into the living room was a welcome sight. He walked over quickly and sat down on the floor in front of it, right next to Ruby. He let out a blissful sigh.

Ruby matched it with one of her own, holding her hands out to the fire.

"Told you it'd be warmer here." He sassed, earning a hard slap on the shoulder.

"So," he went on, "Want to get the project done?" she held up a hand to his face, shaking her head before leaning over, resting her head against his shoulder, "Just a few minutes, fire's nice." She said. He smiled at the suggestion, "Fine by me, just don't fall asleep and leave me to do it on my own."

Eventually, after far more than a few minutes, they got to work on finishing the project.

There were a few things they got stuck on, but things went smoothly for the most part, after all, most of what they had to do was just connecting the parts they'd already written individually, so half the work was already done. They stuck to the living room to do their work, enjoying the heat of the fire.

They were part way through the conclusion when they heard footsteps coming down the staircase.

He'd known that Ruby's dad was home, as Ruby had gone up to say hi before they started working, but this would be the first time since he was a kid he'd actually see him. With all that was going on in his head regarding Ruby, the thought made him irrationally nervous, even though he knew that Taiyang was a nice guy.

"Ah, Jaune, how have you been?" Taiyang greeted with a smile as he reached the foot of the stairs, he walked into the living room, throwing his hands out at the fire with a large grin on his face. Ruby and Yang's dog, Zwei, bounded down the steps behind him and circled the man's feet eagerly a few times before hopping over to sniff at Jaune. He reached down to give the dog a scratch behind the ears as he responded.

"I've been alright, it's pretty cold outside today though, almost froze to death on the way here." He shot a grin towards Ruby as he spoke, and she stuck her tongue out defiantly in reply.

Taiyang nodded in agreement, staring out one of the windows, "you're telling me," he complained, "I've got the fire running here and even then, it's a bit chilly upstairs. You two have the right idea, camping out right by the fire."

Jaune chuckled wryly, "I think Ruby'd have thrown me outside if I tried to suggest anything else."

She pouted at him before shrugging sheepishly when her dad turned to her, "If he wants to sit somewhere cold he can go outside, I'm staying right here."

"It's gonna be awful walking home." Jaune remarked, casting a glance out the window to where he could see some of the branches on a nearby tree blowing with the wind as it picked up.

Taiyang shut that down swiftly, "Not a chance, kiddo, I'm not letting you walk home in that. I'll drive you home."

Jaune backtracked, "No no, it's fine, I wouldn't want to be a burden." He protested, waving his arms in front of him. Taiyang only crossed his own arms, giving him an easily deciphered 'parent' look.

"It's that or I call your parents and you stay the night here, take your pick."

"Ooh!" Ruby exclaimed, "You could do that, and I could show you all my comics! And we could all play a board game or something when Yang gets home! And Zwei loves to meet new people and you can cuddle him a bunch and – " Jaune started laughing, as did Taiyang, effectively cutting off Ruby's excited rant. "I guess I don't have a choice now, huh?" Jaune asked mirthfully, grinning at the now embarrassed looking Ruby, she pouted at his teasing and Taiyang chuckled at the expression on his daughters' face, "Guess not." He agreed, patting Jaune on the shoulder, "I'll go call your parents, and no worries about food, I'm used to making far more than three normal people would need because of Yang, so there will be more than enough for you too."

Once he left the room, Ruby turned to him excitedly, face flushed. "This'll be awesome, I've got a bunch of new Camp Camp comics, and there's a Christmas edition they did I bet you'll love!"

He laughed and grabbed her hands, stopping her wild flailing and bringing them down to her lap again before releasing them. "Let's just finish the rest of the project first, huh? Otherwise we'll forget completely."

She beamed at him, likely still excited for all of her sudden plans, but nodded in agreement, and they went back to work.

It was less than an hour before they finished, seeing as they'd already been on the conclusion when Taiyang came down. Ruby had calmed down some by then, and didn't immediately drag him to see her comics, or anything else. Instead they talked about how their day had went at school. Jaune stopped Ruby in the middle of a rant about her math teacher when he heard the sound of a car pulling in the driveway.

"I think Yang's back." He told her. Without a word, the two of them got up and tiptoed to the window.

They watched as Yang stepped out of the passenger door of Pyrrha's car, with Pyrrha getting out the driver's side. Yang walked around the car to stand in front of Pyrrha, and the two stood talking out in the cold for a minute. Ruby seemed to be losing interest, but Jaune had a suspicion that had been growing since the beginning of the week, and he wanted to see if he was right, so he kept a light grip on her arm to keep her watching.

His patience paid off, and he grinned as he watched Yang reach out and grab Pyrrha by the fingertips, tugging her closer until the two completely closed the distance in a tender kiss, both their cheeks reddening.

He glanced at Ruby in time to see her jaw drop in surprise and laughed. "I knew it." He whispered, grinning. Ruby turned on him incredulously, "How?"

He shrugged, "Pyrrha's been acting different since the weekend, and every time I brought up the project or Yang she'd get flustered, at first I thought it was nothing, but with everything I had to figure out about myself, I sort of put together the dots with the similarities."

"Wait, similarities?" she asked, before turning again and staring at Pyrrha, who slowly pulled away from the obviously affectionate embrace of Yang with a wide smile. Jaune realized his error and coughed, cheeks becoming smattered with pink, "Uh, don't worry about it, Ruby." He stammered, only condemning himself further.

He was saved from further questioning as Pyrrha hopped back into her car, and Yang started making her way to the door. He and Ruby quickly got back to the couch, trying to look like they'd been working the whole time.

Yang opened the door quietly, sliding through the opening and leaning against the door as she closed it behind her. She blew out a big breath and smiled softly, before her eyes opened and zeroed in on Jaune and Ruby staring back shamelessly.

With that, Yang found herself on the opposite end of things for once, as she blushed a brilliant bright red.

"So you're dating my best friend." Jaune said with as serious a tone as he could manage. He must have done at least somewhat well, because Yang froze, wide eyed, and nodded slowly, daring not to speak.

He let the façade fall and smiled, "You guys are really cute together." He offered, and Yang couldn't help the grin that crossed her face, "Damn right we are." She said, not in a boasting tone, but gently.

"Awww my big sister's in love!" Ruby squealed, scrambling off the couch and running over to tackle Yang into a hug. Her sister took it in stride, accepting the hug gladly.

After that, they spent some time hearing from Yang how exactly she and Pyrrha had happened, and Jaune could tell she was omitting details for the sake of her more innocent minded sister. To be honest, he was grateful for it as well. He wasn't sure he needed to hear anything about his best friend's love life, at least not that part of it.

They all ate together, and just as Ruby had predicted, played board games for a few hours before Taiyang went back to his office. Not long after, Yang retreated to her room, looking played out from her day. That didn't stop her from winking suggestively at Jaune as she left him alone with her sister.

As promised, Jaune got to see that Christmas edition of Camp Camp, lying across Ruby's bed sideways as she sat in her desk chair playing a game on her scroll. He would chuckle at something in the comic every so often, prompting her to come see what part he was at. He was nearly to the end when she put her scroll on the bedside table and dove onto the bed beside him to see where he'd gotten to.

"Aw, you're almost at the end." She said. He smiled, "It's starting to get to the part where they make things into a feelgood moment. I can feel it coming." He predicted, before he chuckled, "The part with the snowman coming to life is still my favourite." Ruby threw her arms in the air, "RIGHT?" he cried, "Yang thought that Nikki was the best part, but ohmigod I was dying when the snowman started to freak out!"

They both laughed, with Jaune continuing to read, flipping to the last pages. He went through them quickly, and then set the comic down on his stomach when he was done.

"Being nice, huh?" he asked, turning his head to look over at Ruby beside him. "Doesn't sound like Camp Camp thinks Christmas is about the same thing as we do."

Ruby giggled before waving a hand dismissively, "Bah, being nice is something for all the time, even they admit that. We've got the real deal, it's about spending Christmas with people you care about, your family."

Jaune stared over at Ruby thoughtfully, "Not just family, you can care about other people too." He interjected. She nodded as if that was obvious, shifting to get more comfortable, and coincidentally also shifting a little closer to Jaune.

"I guess I'll have to spend some time on Christmas with you then." He said, swallowing. His mouth felt dry at the admission. Ruby stilled, her eyes wide and bright as she stared back at him, "Jaune?"

He licked his lips, trying to rid himself of the dry feeling there, and prayed that he hadn't completely misinterpreted whatever had been going on between him and Ruby since Saturday. Leaning in, he kissed her as gently as he could, lips barely even making contact, even as his nose bumped against hers.

He felt and heard her breath hitch, before she leaned closer, shifting so their noses wouldn't crush one another and rolling her entire body onto its side to lean it against Jaune. Ruby applied more pressure to the kiss, and Jaune reciprocated, reaching a hand up to rest against her cheek as if to make sure she was actually there. Her hand reached and gripped at the inside of his elbow as he did so, holding his arm there with a tight grip.

They remained that way until Jaune felt his lungs begging for air, and as their lips separated he breathed in deeply, chest rising and pushing against Ruby's as he rolled to his side to fully face her. He could feel her breath against his cheek as she put a hand on his chest to steady herself as he shifted over.

His eyes opened to find that Ruby's were still closed tightly, and he took advantage, leaning in quickly and planting another quick kiss. Her eyes shot open just as he rested his forehead against hers, hand coming up to cup the side of her face again.

"So," he whispered, "Is that a yes to spending some time with me on Christmas?" Her expression shifted to surprise before she burst out laughing, shifting to rest her head in the crook of his neck as she giggled. He grinned, holding back his own laughter in place of gently stroking Ruby's short hair while she tried to recompose.

"That is not the first thing you say to a girl after kissing her." She managed to tease through her giggles, leaning back to smile widely at Jaune, "But yea, I'd love to spend some time with you on Christmas, and maybe before then too, and after?" Her expression showed some doubt that he'd accept, and he decided to shut that down quickly with a wide smile of his own, "That sounds perfect, couldn't have thought of a better plan myself." He said, making Ruby snort before muttering "Obviously not." Under her breath. Seeing as she was mere inches from Jaune, he heard it loud and clear.

They spent an hour or two longer sharing quiet laughter and kisses, before Jaune tiptoed out of her room, wary of waking Yang or their father, and made his way to the guest room Taiyang had prepared for him. Taiyang may like him, and Yang might have all but told him to go for it, but Jaune wasn't quite so crazy that he'd risk falling asleep on Ruby's bed and be found there in the morning by one of them.

In the morning, they decided to keep quiet about things in front of Yang and Taiyang, managing to sneak a quick kiss goodbye when nobody was looking before Tai gave Jaune a ride home, so he could shower and change clothes before school.

They continued keeping things quiet that day, only sneaking off together during lunch to get some time alone. Pyrrha, the saint that she was, had called him out on it the moment she saw him that morning, and covered for their absence without even needing to be asked.

Of course, that was after he'd congratulated her on her own relationship, remarking on how cute her little kiss with Yang was outside the house the day before, Pyrrha had made sure to badger him for details on his own kisses after that.

When Friday came around, Jaune had one special trick left up his sleeve. During homeroom, when they finally opened their Secret Santa gifts, Jaune opened his to find that Yang had gifted him a Christmas themed vomit bag, and he'd laughed, appreciating the gift for the joke that it was even before she fessed up and handed him a gift card for the theatre she'd bought for him while on her date with Pyrrha at her girlfriend's suggestion, knowing her best friend was an avid movie watcher.

He'd watched as Ruby opened the envelope with her name on it, and read through the card telling her to meet him at the park nearby after school for her gift. She looked around the room until she spotted him and raised an eyebrow, and he just shrugged innocently, making her frown grumpily, only making him laugh at the endearing expression.

They handed in their finished project proudly, and Ms. Goodwitch glanced through it, skimming to find the point they'd agreed on as the most important part of the holidays before offering them a rare smile, "I look forward to reading it." She told them, which was as good as anyone could pray for from the strict teacher.

The remainder of the day went by quickly, with Jaune's other classes leaving them to their own devices or organizing Christmas themed activities to pass the time instead of doing work. Jaune said his goodbyes to his friends quickly, wishing happy holidays to the ones he wouldn't see until after the break. Pyrrha had taken him up on the offer to stay at his house, and funny enough, he got the feeling the both of them would be spending a lot of time visiting the Xiao Long residence over the break.

With that done, he snuck out one of the side entrances, knowing that Ruby would be waiting out front to ambush him. She'd been pestering him constantly about her Secret Santa present, but Jaune had refused to budge.

He reached the park quickly, glad to find it deserted, as he'd planned. It was a few more minutes before Ruby arrived, having probably guessed that he'd managed to evade her at the school. She walked over to him with a frown on her face, grudgingly accepting the hug that he offered, even if she hung on a few seconds longer than usual to try and grab some extra heat before letting go. It amused him to no end that she got cold so easily, and he couldn't complain about how cuddly it made her right now because of the weather, he was secretly happy that it had been so cold outside this week.

"So what is it?" she asked, for the thousandth time that day, and this time Jaune finally answered.

He unzipped his backpack, reaching down into it before pulling out a plastic container. He held it out to her with a small smile, and she took the container slowly.

Once she pulled the lid off, her eyes widened. "You got me cookies?" she shouted, looking down at the container full of chocolate chip cookies. He grinned, "I made you cookies, actually." Her eyes met his, wide with surprise, "Since when do you know how to bake?" she asked suspiciously, to which he rolled his eyes. "I have seven sisters, and you doubt my ability to bake? I'm insulted Rubes, really."

"Oooh," she exclaimed, a thought coming to mind, "Is it your mom's recipe? Her cookies were super good!" She grabbed one and took a bite, chewing quickly. He watched as her expression slowly shifted.

"Actually," he said, watching as she seemed to recognize the taste, and he hoped that he'd done them right, "It's your mom's recipe."

She stared down at the container now, the cookie in her hand gently set back down in it, her hands had started to shake, and this time he didn't think it was the cold, but he reached out to cover them with his own anyways.

"I wasn't sure I'd be able to do them right, but I figured I could at least try. I asked Yang for the recipe after she got home, and she came over with Pyrrha to help me make them." He explained, "I remembered how much you liked my moms, and the story you told about you stealing all the cookies your mom had made when you were a kid and hiding them in your room, so I wanted to give you something special for your gift."

She was still silent, and now he scratched his neck nervously, "I uh, I hope it's goo – " he was cut off as she leapt into his arms, dropping the container as her arms and legs wrapped around him and she dragged him into a frantic kiss. It took a moment for Jaune to respond, surprised as he was, but he managed to catch on. He quickly pulled away though, when he felt the wetness of tears against his face when their cheeks brushed. Her eyes were as bright as ever as she looked at him, but a steady steam flowed down her face from them. He brought one hand free to brush it away, before pulling her close so she could bury her face into his shoulder.

"Thank you." She choked out, tears now rolling down his jacket. Jaune craned his head to plant a kiss on the shell of her ear, before murmuring something to her quietly.

"Merry Christmas, Ruby."


End file.
